Category Archives: spiritual formation

Christmas Is Full Of Mystery — So Is Life

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Steve Simms

Christmas is full of mystery. Mystery is difficult for some people to accept. It is human nature to want to know how things happen. We want to understand — to figure things out. This innate human trait has been good … Continue reading →

Posted in big bang, biology, challenges, Christianity, Christmas, Christmas carols, Christmas Eve, consciousness, creation, Creator, education, evolution, holidays, impossible odds, materialism, mind, miracles, mystery, mysticism, non-material reality, Oh my God, origin of life, proof of God, Reason For The Season, religion, self-image, soul, spiritual, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, spiritual skills, stuff, thinking, thoughts, Uncategorized, virgin birth, Why be a Christian? | Tagged admit, agriculture, analytical, attempt to answer, Avenue, believe, beyond the wildest, blob of condensed matter, blow up, blow-out, blows a circuit, by faith, categorize, category, charted, choose, Christmas, comfort, communication, compartmentalized, completely unexplainable, complexity, confronts, crafted, creation, dead end, delcares a Creator, denied, difficult for some people to accept, distant past, Does a person survive death, don't matter, energy, experimentation, explain, explain the origin, exploded, fallacy, figure things out, for example, full of mystery, good for the human race, great advancement in health, has to offer, His mystery, how, How can we improve?, How dose that work, how things happen, human imagination, human knowledge, human nature, human reasoning, human trait, in the real world, inate, increased knowledge, left-brained, life, living, logic, loose ends, made of nothing, mankind, matter, meaning, mysterious Creator, mystery, observation, order, personality, philosophy, physical world, presume, pridefully, purely natural process, question, randomly produced, rational beings, rationality, reality, reasoning, religion, removed, riddle of life's mistery, right back, science, shove, shrouded, solid, somehow, speculation, speed of light, started, stuck with, survives, systematized, technology, the best that, The Big Bang, thinik, thrives, tricked, two choices, unanswerable, understanding, unimaginable complexity, vast body, want to know, want to understand, we don't know, Western world, What does lofe mean, Where did we come from | 6 Comments

Why Is Christmas The Most Celebrated Day Of The Year?

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Steve Simms

Why all the fuss and effort to celebrate the Christmas season? You know. The most celebrated day of the year is about the arrival of Jesus Christ on planet Earth. Isn’t it amazing all the time, effort, and money that … Continue reading →

Posted in Americans, awe, Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, Christianity, Christmas, Christmas carols, Christmas Eve, East Nashville, freedom, Jesus, Jesus Christ, kingdom of God, life, lifestyles, meaning, miracles, mysticism, Nashville, non-material reality, Oh my God, popular culture, praise and worship, Reason For The Season, religion, revelation, Savior, spiritual, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, spiritual skills, spiritual warfare, The Salvation Army, Why be a Christian? | Tagged 10:45, 225 Berry St., 37207, alive, all the fuss, all the time, amazing, around the world, Berry Street, birth, calls us back, celebrate, Christmas celebrations, Christmas season, come, confined, eager, effort, empowered, Enhance, experience, faithfully serve, freedom, gives, history, hope, human life, hundreds of millions, in our time, individuals, inner passion, inner witness, inside the human heart, inspires, Jesus, Jesus Christ, know, live a life of love, loves us, meaningless existence, mere, money, morality, most celebrated day, moves, Nashville, of the year, people, personally encountered, planet Earth, presence, present reality, random, rebellious, religion, respond, return, ritual, runaway, self-destructive behaviors, self-sacrifice, set free, shows, spent, steps out, stirs, Sundays, testifies, the arrival, the depths of our being, the living Christ, The Salvation Army, there is a God, there is more to life, TN, to believe, tradition, transformation, truths, try to deny, Why, working, Worship Center, you know | 6 Comments

Creatively Changing Christmas Songs To Celebrate Christ More

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Steve Simms

Have you ever noticed that a great many Christmas songs have little or nothing to do with Jesus Christ. Since Christmas is when we celebrate His birthday, I thought it might be good to tweak some Christmas songs and Christmas … Continue reading →

Posted in alternative lifestyle, awe, challenges, Christ, Christianity, Christmas, Christmas carols, church, country music, feelings, freedom, glory, God, gratitude, holidays, humor, Jesus, Jesus Christ, joy, lifestyles, Lord, miracles, Music City, mysticism, Nashville, non-material reality, Oh my God, poem, popular culture, praise and worship, religion, revelation, salvation, saved, Savior, spiritual, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, spiritual skills, spiritual warfare, thanksgiving, values, virgin birth, Why be a Christian?, words, worship | Tagged a great many, all the way, awesome, Bethelehem, carol, celebrate, celebrate His birthday, changing, Christ, Christmas carols, Christmas songs, Chrsitmas, creatively, cross of Christ, dear, everyday, everywhere I go, forgiving, grandma, Happy Birthday, have you ever noticed, Have yourself a, here are, holy, I saw Mommy, identify, in the rain, is coming to town, it might be good, Jesus Christ, joy, joy to the world, king, knees, last night, little or nothing, Lord, Lord at Your birth, love, love you more, loving Jesus, mercy, mighty one, more about, Music City, oh what fun it is to, receive, rock, some, straight from, tears, the original song, thought, tweak, worship | 3 Comments

Confronting The Christmas Claims — Conscious Contact With God

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Steve Simms

The original Christmas is full of contact with God. The ordinary becomes the extraordinary as people encounter God’s Presence and power. A physical new star in the heavens becomes a messenger from Heaven, directing wise men hundreds of miles to … Continue reading →

Posted in alternative lifestyle, angels, Angels We Have Heard On High, Bible, Christian history, Christianity, Christmas, Christmas carols, Christmas Eve, creation, evangelicals, forgiveness, glory, God, grace, gratitude, guidance, Jesus, Jesus Christ, joy, kingdom of God, Lord, miracles, mysticism, new birth, non-material reality, Oh my God, prayer, proof of God, recovery, revelation, salvation, soul, spiritual, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, spiritual skills, spiritual warfare, supernatural, tradition, Uncategorized, virgin birth, Why be a Christian?, worship | Tagged 21st Century, 84, a light for revelation, about Jesus, All who heared it were amazed, angels, Anna, at what the shepherds told them, babe, beautiful, Bethlehem, born, Christ Child, Christmas, Christmas claims, circumcised, confronting, conscious contact, continually, declared, demonstrationg, directing, effort, eight days, Elizabeth, encounter, excitedly, extraordinary, follow, glory, God, God's presence, guided by the Spirit, heart, heaven, heavens, Holy Spirit, hundres of miles, Israel, Jesus, Jesus' mother, John the Baptist, Lord's, lowliest occupations, Mary, messenger, Messiah, motivated, moved by the Spirit, New Testament, not see death, ordinary, original, overcome by, parents, people, physical, power, power of the Spirit, prayed and fasted, prophetic words, resources, revealed, run around, sacririce, Shepherds, signs and wonders, Simeon of Jerusalem, small town, speak, spiritual, star, still shines, stirring, telling everybody, that very moment, the Spirit of God, the Temple, this very day, time, to the Gentiles, treasured, walked up to, widow, wise men, worship, year-old, Zachariah | 6 Comments

The Claims Of Christmas — Virgin Birth

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Steve Simms

It is easy to overlook some of the remarkable claims of Christmas. One such claim is that a young woman named Mary gave birth to a child without having had sexual intercourse. I have noticed that this amazing claim is … Continue reading →

Posted in blessings, Christ, Christian history, Christianity, Christmas, Christmas Eve, feelings, glory, God, history, impossible odds, joy, kingdom of God, life, miracles, mysticism, non-material reality, proof of God, religion, spiritual, spiritual formation, supernatural, Uncategorized, virgin birth | Tagged a fair question, a supernatural event, allegiance, amazing, amazing claim, artificial insemination, astounded, author, be convinced of its truth, became a human being, before, Bible, blindly accept it, Book of Luke, by a miracle, carefully, cause a baby to be conceived, certainty, Christ, Christian Standard Bible, Christmas, claims, conceive, convinced, created, creating, creating a baby, Creator, deserves, easy to overlook, events, everything, exammined, excuse the pun, explored, eyewitnesses, first, frequent experience, fulfilled among, gave birth to a child, God, good question, handed, heard, high school, how, How can this be, human beings, I didn't believe, I have not been, ignorant, in their time, inpossibility, instructed, intimate with a man, intorduced, investigated, is alive, Jesus Christ, just as, know, literally occured, Luke, making the claim, Many have undertaken, Mary, Mary asked, miracles of Christmas, most Christians, most honorable, myths, named, narrative, New Testament, noticed, original, others, personal relationship, physical, pondered, procreation, pun, read, reject it outright, remarkable claims, reporting, responded to, scientific fact, seemed good, servants of the word, sexual intercourse, since, skeptics, spacetime, supernatural Being, supernatural experience, supernatural means, suppose, testimony, Theophilus, thinking, to believe, to compile, total commitment, virgin, where babies come from, without, womb, world, wrestled with, writers, young woman | 6 Comments

How To Shop For Christ*mas

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Steve Simms

From Black Friday through Christmas Eve, people will be shopping for material things to give to family, friends, and clients on Christmas Day. They will be searching and sorting through stuff, seeking to find just the right gifts. But perhaps … Continue reading →

Posted in alternative lifestyle, American, Americans, Black Friday, books, Christmas, Christmas Eve, church, guidance, Henry Poole Was Here, Jesus, Jesus Christ, life, lifestyles, materialism, organic church, Red Kettles, religion, self-help, shopping, simple church, spiritual, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, spiritual skills, spiritual warfare, stuff, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, values | Tagged age, available, be kind, become a super shopper, being transformed, Black Friday, car, carry someone's bags, Christ-filled Christmas, Christ-focused friends, Christmas, Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, clients, comformed to this, creating, crowds, detachment, devotional Bible reading, encouraging words, examples, extremely difficult, family, fasting, find and use, find firends, follow, followers of Christ, Friends, Give, give to, Google, hang out, help, help a neighbor, hold doors open, humility, hunt down, inspirational movie, it takes, Jesus, jewel, just the right gifts, let others through, like Jesus, live, living like Jesus, love, make friends, make your shopping, material things, meditation, more like Christ, most Americans, multitudes, obey, organic church, passionate, people, people we spend time with, people who live ajnd love, perhaps, politely move aside, provide transportation, REd Kettles, same effort, searching, seek, seeking, self-denial, serve others, shop, shop for Christmas, shop for ways, shopping, shopping season, shopping skills, sold on, solitude, some steps to shop, sort, sort through your friends, sorting through stuff, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, spiritual listening, spiritual reading, spiritual shopping, spiritual warfare, still-born spiritually, superb, The Salvation Army, this year, tools for spiritual growth, various types of prayer, volunteer with a nonprofit, ways to grow spiritually, world, world's standards, you will be amazed, your life will be transformed | 6 Comments

Gone With The Whim (And They Don’t Give A Wham!)

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Steve Simms

Margaret Mitchell’s romantic novel about the American Civil War and Reconstruction, Gone With The Wind, was published in 1936 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. Had it been published in the Twenty-First Century, it might have been called Gone … Continue reading →

Posted in 21st Century, addiction, American Civil War, American Literature, black history, history, lifestyles, popular culture, Pulitzer Prize, quote, Quotes, Reconstruction, romantic novel, Saint Pachomius, sex, spiritual formation | Tagged Gone With The Wind, history, Margaret Mitchell, psychology, quotations, St. Pachomius, whims | 18 Comments

Category Archives: spiritual formation

Christmas Is Full Of Mystery — So Is Life

Why Is Christmas The Most Celebrated Day Of The Year?

Creatively Changing Christmas Songs To Celebrate Christ More

Confronting The Christmas Claims — Conscious Contact With God

The Claims Of Christmas — Virgin Birth

How To Shop For Christ*mas

Gone With The Whim (And They Don’t Give A Wham!)

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Beyond Church: An Invitation To Experience The Lost Word Of The Bible

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